Schabir Shaik's comments about the Heath Investigating Unit to
arms-company head Alain Thetard were in the context of a general discussion
about other contractors and their suspicions about these contractors, his
advocate, Francois van Zyl, told the Durban High Court on Tuesday.

This follows testimony on Monday by Shaik's former personal
assistant Bianca Singh.

Singh told the court that at a meeting in Mauritius between
Thetard, Shaik and others, he had handed over a file of newspaper cuttings and
said if the unit continued and if a "certain ANC [African National
Congress] member opened his mouth", they would be in "real
trouble".

Van Zyl said Shaik will tell the court this comment was in the
context of a general discussion about the unit and their suspicions about other
contracts.

He said the court will hear that the clippings Shaik had
requested Singh take to Mauritius had been critical of his company, Nkobi
Holdings, and Thomson. When they spoke about "damage control", they
were discussing how they could rectify that criticism in the press.

In response, Singh told the court: "That's Mr Shaik's
version ... I believe what I said is correct."

According to Van Zyl, the diagrams of corvettes Singh said she
saw were actually for a patrol vessel for which Nkobi and others had wanted to
put in a tender to the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.

He also said the court will be told that when Shaik became aware
of Nkandla, Deputy President Jacob Zuma's traditional village project, and the
cost of it, he realised that if Zuma went ahead with it he would be paying
"much too much" for it.

He said Shaik will tell the court that he wrote a letter to Zuma
saying that he should stop the project, but Zuma went ahead with it regardless.

Singh was again under the close eye of a Scorpions bodyguard
while giving testimony and Shaik looked and chatted to journalists during
proceedings.

From time to time, he called over to his lawyer to confer with
him.

Diagrams displayed in court

On Monday, Singh told the court she had seen a laminated diagram
of the arms-deal corvettes in a cupboard in Shaik's office soon after she
started work there in 1996.

On Tuesday, Shaik's advocate, Francois van Zyl, showed her two
laminated diagrams of a vessel and asked if those were the ones she saw.

Singh replied that she had seen only one diagram, that it was
"a bit bigger" and that the profile of the vessel on it had been
different.

Van Zyl put it to her that the plans she was holding were the
only ship diagrams Shaik had had in his office.

However, Singh maintained that those were not the ones she had
seen.

Van Zyl handed the diagrams in as exhibits and said he would
lead evidence on them later.

Shaik faces three charges of fraud and corruption relating to
alleged payments to Deputy President Jacob Zuma for protection during a probe
into contracts awarded as part of a multibillion-rand arms deal.